Georgia Magazine

Red & Black

Bulldawg Illustrated

How Georgia students have teamed up with Vince and Barbara Dooley to change the face of international education programs –Ryan Scates

Perhaps the newest staple of today’s “college experience” is the phenomenon of studying abroad. Just over one in three Georgia students will study abroad by the time they graduate, putting UGA at the forefront of higher-level international education programming. Georgia boasts campuses in Oxford, England, (where scenes from the wildly popular “Harry Potter” movies have been filmed) Cortona, Italy and the cloud rainforests of Costa Rica.

Needless to say, the days of UGA students going to places like Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge for their “cultural enhancement” are long gone.

In 2008, recent UGA Grads Garrett Gravesen, Robbie Reese, Kevin Scott, and Courtney Doran, developed a groundbreaking new study abroad program called Global L.E.A.D.

“About 250,000 American students study abroad each year for what amounts to a $1.5 Billion photo-op.” explains Gravesen. “The students get some really cool pictures, and study in what is an American classroom that has been transplanted overseas for around six weeks, usually in England, France, Italy or Spain.”

“We don’t see transplanting classrooms as a solution, but as a problem”.  Gravesen elaborates.

To address this issue, Global L.E.A.D. is specifically designed to plug American students into the communities that they are studying in. While the students get their typical “photo-op” moments such as going cage diving with Vince Dooley in shark-infested waters, the highlights of the program were the community service programs that immersed students from places like Macon and Atlanta in the realities of living in third-world destitution.

Global L.E.A.D. led its first study abroad trip this summer, as 50 UGA students traveled with Gravesen, Scott and Doran to Cape Town, South Africa, accompanied by none other than the first family of the Bulldawg Nation, Vince and Barbara Dooley.

“What separates the LEAD study abroad program from any other is its aspect of service,” explained Coach Dooley.

“What was so fabulous about these kids was that they were so eager to get into the townships and see what they could do to help these communities,” recounted Mrs. Dooley

One community project the students undertook was rehabilitating a local school that had been condemned for five years. “To see the tears in the teachers’ eyes when the project was completed combined with the excitement of the children to see their new school was a highlight of the trip,” told Coach Dooley.

Global L.E.A.D. has been so successful in its first year that next year the programs will be expanding to destinations including Greece and Brazil.  The program is also opening up study abroad opportunities to students at South Carolina, LSU, and Auburn for 2010.

“We are tired of the Ivy League schools being the trendsetters in global education” declared Kevin Scott. “Our long-term goal is to have students from Harvard and Yale coming to The University of Georgia to find the best way to make the most of their study abroad opportunity.”

Scott’s goal may not be that far off, as Global L.E.A.D.’s believers are mounting by the day.

“When they got started with Global L.E.A.D., there were plenty of skeptics about getting dozens of students to pay money to study abroad in this economic climate,” said Coach Dooley.  “But when I found out this team (Gravesen, Reese, Scott, and Doran) was running this program, I knew they would get it done.”